Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [71]
There followed the sort of silence into which Zacco’s mother Cropnose had fallen. Loredano said, ‘Because of Tzani-bey, you have decided to join Queen Carlotta?’
‘My soldiers are joining her,’ Nicholas said. ‘Or so I was told.’
‘But King James!’ Loredano said. ‘Did he not tell you –?’ He stopped.
‘That he would have them all intercepted and killed unless I stayed to fight for him? No, he didn’t. If he made you that promise, he broke it. I,’ Nicholas said, ‘am free to join my army and leave if I please, when I please.’
They were no longer sitting knee to knee. The Venetian’s broad, suntanned face, brown and flat as a chestnut, had lost its understated veneer. He pushed his cup aside and rose, stepping among the painted chests and gilt stools. He turned, his hands on a ledge. He said, ‘I understand. You are entitled to do this. We deserve it. But the issues are momentous, and not only for us, the traders. Not only for Venice. But I do need to know one thing. I believe that Zacco has left you a free agent, although I can’t understand why. So will you go to Carlotta?’
‘Would I have come here and let you kill me if I intended it?’ Nicholas said. ‘And of course, you have Primaflora. You only have to tell the Knights that she had betrayed Carlotta, and they would see that the Queen got to know of it.’
‘Does that matter to you?’ said Loredano. On his smooth face was real surprise.
‘You thought it didn’t?’ Nicholas said. ‘Then you sent her to Kolossi for other reasons. I’m sure the Knights, for example, have no idea that Venetians brought her. Of course not. Queen Carlotta’s household has nothing to do with Venetians. So she was muffled going ashore, and I was muffled. So that, when I appear at Kolossi, I can pass for one of Queen Carlotta’s men too. Unless, of course, my inconvenient army appears …’
Nicholas paused. The brown gaze of the Venetian appeared mesmerised. Nicholas wondered what the man had expected. From what they had seen of him on shipboard, perhaps not very much. He resumed his exposition, which was giving him some enjoyment. ‘For you didn’t expect Captain Astorre and his friends to follow so quickly, did you? And especially, you didn’t foresee that he would guess wrong, and try to follow me to the wrong side. But still, it gave King Zacco a weapon to force me to join him. And since he chose not to use it, you will now have to fall back on your second weapon: the girl, which I have just presented you with. And if that doesn’t work: if, despite all my protestations I really don’t care a hoot for the lady, there is the best lure of all: the Venetian franchises. You are factor for the Episkopi sugar estates.’
‘I am not offering you these,’ Loredano said. His speech had changed.
‘What a pity,’ Nicholas said. ‘Because, as everyone keeps reminding me, I do have friends among the Genoese and their Portuguese associates. In return for helping Carlotta and the Genoese, I might have done quite well out of sugar. If not here, then on Madeira, for example. Portugal’s new island colony, with all those promising sugar fields. Madeira appeals to me. I have a … relative working in Portugal at this moment with whom I have a certain friendly rivalry.’ He formed and unformed a smile, without otherwise moving.
Loredano said, ‘A moment ago, you denied that you would go to Carlotta. It had occurred to you, as I remember, that you are friendless. And Carlotta is not on this island.’
‘A moment ago,’ Nicholas said, ‘I must admit that I assumed we were talking of sugar. I also, perhaps, overstated my attachment for the lady whose chamber you were so anxious that I should share. The truth is, I’m afraid, that I am still in a position to choose. Only I, for one thing, can instruct my company not to sail to Kyrenia. And on my death, they would certainly work for Carlotta. And if Carlotta wins, the Genoese take all the sugar interests. You were saying?’
The other man released the ledge. His fingers looked cramped. He moved to a cross-legged chair a little distance from where Nicholas sat, and placed